Pianissimo device for chimes.



H. VON DER HEYDT.

PIANISSIMO DEVICE FOR CHIMES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 24 I917:

Patented Aug. 7, 1917.

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ATTORA WITNESSES.- WM. (1.8. mm.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()EEICE.

HERMAN VON DER HEYDT, OF OAK PARK, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 KUEHL CLOCK (10., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPGRATION'OF ILLINOIS.

PIANISSIMO DEVICE FOR CRIMES.

Application filed March 24, 1917.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, I'IERMAN VON min HEYDT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Oak Park, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improve ment in Pianissimo Devices for Chimes; and I do hereby declare that the following description of my said invention, taken in connection with the accompanying sheet of drawing, forms a full, clear, and exact specification, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates generally to improvements in tone adjusters for musical instruments and the like, and it consists, essentially, in the novel and peculiar combination of parts and details of construction, as hereinafter first fully set forth and described and then pointed out in the claims.

The object of this invention is the production of an eflicient, serviceable, and comparatively inexpensive device for modulating, modifying, or regulating the tone of musical instruments, and especially that class of instruments in which a series of properly attuned, metallic, tubes or bars are struck by hammers to vibrate these bars and thereby to cause them to emit sound. And while my invention is adapted for use in various instruments of the nature mentioned, it is especially well adapted for employment in clocks wherein the hours, and division of the hour, are sounded upon either one or more bells, chimes, etc., in the well-known manner.

Especially in the larger type of clocks, such as hall clocks, it is desirable that the degree or intensity of the sound of the bells can be modified, modulated, or subdued; some persons preferring the louder, while others desire a more subdued tone, and that such a device can be readily changed from one to the other sound. These objects I attain by the introduction, between the bells and the hammers, of a movable, graduated, damper, whereby by shifting the position of the damper, the desired effect is instantly obtained, and an example of such a damper is shown in the drawings forming a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is an elevation of a portion of a clock case con- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 7, 1917.

Serial No. 157,123.

case of any desired size, configuration, or

ornamentation, which contains the clock movement of any approved construction and having the necessary gearing for striking the hours, and frequently also fractions of an hour. In the present instance, the bells upon which the time is struck, comprise one or more metallic tubes or rods B, of different lengths, which, when struck, emit the corresponding tone, there being shown in Fig. 1, a chime of five of these rods, although my invention is not confined to any particular number of bells.

C are the hammers which are operated by a. clock movement G. When these hammers strike the bells, their sound or tone is rather loud and more or less metallic, which is not always desirable. To modify this sound I locate in front of these bells a fabric curtain D, which curtain is applied to a socalled spring shade-roller E, which is selfwinding, being of the well-known windowshade roller type, having a spring located therein by which the shade is wound upon said roller after having been pulled down and then released. Said curtain D may be vertically moved in front of the bells by a cord 12, attached at one end to the curtain, and at the other end to any appropriate means for manipulating the curtain, as for example, a bell crank lever'F. This bell crank lever F can be movably held in any predetermined position.

The curtain is comprised of a single thickness of a textile material, such as cloth, canvas, and the like, and superposed on this thickness there are one or more layers of the same material, each layer being shorter than the preceding layer, the first layer being of two thicknesses, the second of three thicknesses and so forth, each succeeding section of the curtain being thicker than the preceding one, these various sections being indicated by the reference numerals, 13, 14:. And it will now be noted that when the curtain is in. such a position that the hammers loudness of the sound or tone decreases as still more layers of the curtain are interposed between the hammers and the bells.

In the drawings I have shown the curtain with a single thickness of the material next to the roller, but it is obvious that the order of the layers may be reversed, and the greatest number of layers of the material of the curtain be uppermost. In this case it is possible to so arrange the curtain when it is unrolled, that the hammers strike the thickest part of the curtain first, while, when the curtain is entirely rolled up, the hammers strike the unprotected bells and, therefore, sound the loudest. It will thus be noted that by shifting the curtain as described, any desired degree of sound of the bells can be obtained by a simple manipulation of the handle 16, in the proper direction. It will also be observed that my in vention is not confined to clocks which sound the hours automatically, but that the same is equally well adapted for manually operated chimes Without change or modification.

Having thus fully described this invention, I claim as new, and desire to secure to myself by Letters Patent of the United States- 1. In a device of the nature described, the combination, of a series of bells, said bells being pendant rods, said rods being of various lengths, a hammer for each bell, a curtain roller in front of said bells, said roller having attached thereto a curtain, said ourtain being composed of sections, each section being thicker than the preceding section, said curtain being interposed between said bells and said hau'nners and vertically movable, by the rotation of said roller, and means attached to the lower end of said curtain, for lowering said curtain.

2. In a device of the nature described, the combination, of a casing, clock mechanism in said casing, a series of vertically suspended chime bells in said casing, a like series of hammers located in front of said bells, said hammers being actuated by said clock mechanism at predetermined intervals, a springactuated roller rotatably mounted in said casing in front of said chime bells, a flexible curtain attached to said roller at one of its ends, said curtain being interposed between said chime bells and said hammers, said curtain being wound upon said roller, and means at the lower end of said curtain for pulling said curtain downward.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have hereunto set my hand.

HERMAN VON DER HEYDT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patentl, Washington, D. C. 

